William cleather gordon



(No ModeL) W. G. GORDON.

ELECTRIC FIRE ALARM APPARATUS.

No. 287,664. I Patented Oct. 30, 1883.

FIRE ALARM F/Rf ALARM 6 I o i FIRE AL/l RM WITNESSES ATTORNEYS N. PETERS. Phowlimu n ner. Washington. D c.

PATENT "OFFICEa;

WILLIAM CLEATHER GORDON, REsIDI e AT THE LANGHAM HOTEL, COUNTY or MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

ELECTRIC FIRE-ALARM APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming-part of Letters Patent to. 287,664, dated October 30, 1883,

Application filed April 23, 1883. (No model Patented in England January 5, 1883, No. 75, and in France January E37, 1883,

I l\"o.153,384.

' To all whom zit may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM OLEATHER GORDON, a subject of the Queen of Great tric Fire-Alarm Apparatus, of which the fol-.'

lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electric fire-alarm apparatus for hotels and other large buildings or structures; and it has for its object to enable an alarm ,of fire to be originated at any floor of a building, and the locality or floor from which the alarm em anated I to be indicated upon every other floor, and the alarm to be sounded simultaneously in various parts of the building, so as to call the attention of the fireman or other person in charge, in whatever part of the building he may happen to'.be, and at thesame time convey imme diate and precise information of the whereabout of the outbreak.

It has, further, for its object to enable all the indicators which have been so operated to be returned to their normal position from any one of them as anintimation that the fireman or other person in charge has heard and attended to the summons.

In order that the invention may be better understood, I will describe the same with reference to the accompanying diagram.

In carrying out the invention Iprovide upon every floor of the building, and in any convenient place, one or more indicators, A,-each having as many signaling-apertures and corresponding signal-disks, a, as there are floors or parts of the building at which an alarm, of fire is to be localized. I11 the example shown there are supposed to'be five floors, and there are consequently five indicators A, each having five signal-disks a and upon every fioor or other part of a building I fix a push-piece or other form of circuit-closer, B, in a prominent position to enable any person to give an early alarm in case ,of need and, lastly, in suit in the manner described are of special arrange the battery 'or batteries.

able parts of the building I provide any'de-' ment, and are as follows: There are as many electrical circuits 1 2 3 4 5 as there are signaldisks a in any one indicator, the said circuits corresponding, respectively, to the different floors of the building, and each passing suck cessively through the electro-magnet e inthe several indicators of the first, second, third, or other signal-disk, denoting the particular fioor to which the circuit corresponds, and all these circuits are connected in multiple are with the main leads I? and N from the poles of Each circuit be tween, say, its junction with the main lead P and the first indicator, is carried to any convenient point of the floor which the signal disks upon said circuit are appropriated to denote, and at this point it is broken and provided'with a push-piece, B, or other contactmaker, whereby the circuit may be closed and the signal-disks denoting that floor brought into view in all the indicators. In the circuit or" the main lead N, between the last indicator of the series and the negative pole of thebattery, I-interpose a number of electric bells O, arranged in multiple are between the two parts NN of the negative lead.

111 very large buildings, when it is desired to ring bells at opposite extremities of the building, Iprefer to usetwo batteries, as shown in the diagram, and two sets of push-pieces, B B and of electric bells 0 O situated at opposite ends of the building, in which case I connect the positive poles of the batteries by a wire, P, and connect the positive leads P P to the said poles and branch the'negative lead N at a point, a, between the last indicator and the two sets of bells, so that the current will divide and pass through both sets of bells in returning to the negative polesof the two batteries. V 0

In the drawing the signal-disks on the thirdfloor circuit, N o. 4, are represented as having been operated by a current whose course is indicated by the dots and arrows on that circuit.

To enable all the signal-disks which have 5 been actuated to be returned to their normal position by closing a circuit at any one of the indicators, each indicator is provided with aset of reversing-magnets, F, one for each signal-disk, all these magnets being arranged in series on the same circu'itf, and connected at one end with the lead from the negative pole of one of the batteries, while a wire, f from the other end is branched at f 3 to puslrpieces or circuit-closers G, one upon each indicator, a wire, 9, connected to the wire P,-which connects the positive poles of the battery, being similarly branched at g to the said push-pieces, so that on the circuit being closed at any one of them a current will be passcdthrough the whole series of reversing-magnets F of all the indicators, and will thus return any of the signal-disks a which may have been previously thrown over to their normal position. The signal-disks are carried by polarized needles pivoted so as to oscillate between the pairs of actuating and reversing electro-magnets c F.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. The combination, with a series of electrical indicators arranged upon several floors of a building and each provided with as many signal-disks as there are floors, of electrical circuits corresponding in number to the number of signal-disks on any one indicator, and circuit-closers equal in number to the number of indicators, each circuit-closer serving to operate a signal-disk on each indicator, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a series of electrical indicators arranged on the several floors of a building and each provided with as many signal-disks as there are floors, of electrical circuits corresponding in'nulnber to the number of signal-disks on any one indicator, circuit-closers equal in number to the number of indicators and interposed alarms, substantially as herein shown and described.

The foregoing specification of my improvement in electric fire-alarm apparatus signed by me this 28th day of February, 1883.

\VILLIAM CLEATHER GORDON.

\Vitnesses:

J'No. DEAN, Innoy It. GOLDRING, Both of 17 Grucechm'ch Street, London, Noiarys Clerks. 

